Boomer & Valerie's fresh start in Alaska

There’s one thing missing from this photo and it’s my precious baby boomer….

Hi, my name is Boomer. I'm a 10-year-old, 85-95 lb mastiff. It has been very difficult for my mom to provide me with shelter in Maui. We have been rotating homes, from couches to living in my mom's car, since my mom's landlord replaced us without informing her while she was commercial fishing in Alaska. He also kept our security deposit of $1500 and my dog deposit of $700. We have been experiencing homelessness since September and have been lucky enough to have an amazing ohana in Maui who gave us places to shower, and lay our heads down. We are very blessed and thankful for every single one of you.

We have had a few hiccups along the way...

When my mom got back, I popped a blood vessel in my eye which caused an expensive vet surgery of $1500.

She was patient and had high hopes we would find a home but couldn't find one that allowed me! So she found us a home in Alaska, used her savings from commercial fishing on Lady Alaska, and secured us a home in Anchorage in January because she never gave up on finding us a home together.

In this time period, my mom worked 3 jobs and saved enough to get us to Alaska with the traveling cost to get us there.

While my mom and I were living in the car she drove us to our normal home into a empty parking lot where we would sleep and a police officer pulled her over our of suspicion of what we were doing which then led to threats being made about the dog and being harassed and assaulted during the process, mom didn't react calmly due to being scared what was going to happen to both of us after she was ready to take us to our home in Alaska. She had to get a lawyer using the money she had saved for us to leave, which was very expensive but she managed to get it taken care of. This was a 3-month waiting case before we got it handled.

We finally passed our case and we were ready to go. She arranged my documents, my kennel, and flights and thought we crossed every 'T' and dotted every 'i', but an hour before we thought we would be happy and moving to our beautiful home she had been paying for since January, we found out some of my paperwork wasn't going to be ready due to Memorial Day weekend and misunderstanding of the medication I needed so I can be calm and sleeping whilst on the plane because I'm old and scared of loud noises.

This led my mom flying without me with a non-refundable flight that was all paid for. So now my mom has to fly back to Maui, pay the same large amount to fly back, then bring me with her and do this process all over again and use the savings she had prepared for us in Alaska.

With all that being said, as you know, my mom is a hard, dedicated worker. She cannot work like she planned when she got to Alaska. I had to stay in her car for 3 days without her as our friends and family were unavailable. If I didn't find shelter, I would have been surrendered to the Humane Society. Luckily, we found Debbie West who is looking after me till I can go live with mom.

My mom's expenses are a lot right now and she has finally come to asking for help, which is not her style but she has given it all she can.

Expenses are...

My Mom is paying for two round of trips now due to her having to come back and do this entire process over again... It's not cheap.

Dog sitter she found for me until paperwork is ready for the 4th.

500 series kennel for the travel home.

Medication for the plane.

Vet appointments for the paperwork.

Dog food for when I get home until my mom can see where she can start work that she had planned.

The money she used to save me that would have been used to get the next month's rent.

Loss of mom's deposit from previous home and keeping everything she could have used and sold to help get us shelter after sailing.

Getting a short-term vehicle that allows me when we land in Anchorage.

My Mom is heavenly grateful and blessed for anyone that wants to help. It has been her dream for a long time and hoping this secures her heart and dreams of living happily ever after together in a safe home that she's been working really hard for.

Love you all ‍

Boomer & Valerie